The Life of Celine Mozet
by Leefreak
Summary: Summary inside!


_**Summary:**_  
 **Celine lived a very charmed, sheltered life along side her politician Father in France. In her eyes the world was a simple place. Having just turned 14, she is already set to marry a young officer named Gaston and has accepted the life she is now set to live. On their way to a ceremony at City Hall, Celine and her Father are caught in the middle of the break of a civil war between the police and the people that the government has seemed to turn it's back on. Celine is immediately separated from her Father and quickly learns that the world is not so simple at all. Now seeing the world for what it really is, Celine is torn between making her own path and continuing to conform with society. As her life goes on, she finally makes a decision to help those in need and abandon her wealthy and respectable statues. Outraged, her Father sends out the best on the police force to chase after her and his name is Javert. With help from fellow activists Marius Pontmercy, she learns the way of the streets. She is faced with many trials and is forced to make difficult decisions but it is all this that shapes Celine into who she becomes. This is the life of Celine Mozet.**

* * *

It was mid July in Paris and the air was hot and sticky. The sun's rays poured down, making the dirt hot and everyone miserable. Women and men in their fine and layered clothes walked up and down the streets in a heat daze on to work or to shop. Along with the rich who crowded the streets was a wealthy politician by the name of Andre. The politician was an older man, in his early sixties, but behind his wrinkles and graying hair there was still a trace of the handsome young man he was long ago before the stress of politics throughout the years slowly drained him of his youth. Along his side was his daughter, his only child that his late wife was able to bare in the couple's later years of marriage. At first it had seemed impossible for the pair to conceive. When his wife had reached her thirties they believed their only choice was to give up hope on a family. That was until by some miracle, just ten years later they were blessed with their darling child who they named Celine.

Celine, who had just turned fourteen, was the spitting image of her mother. Her skin was fair and smooth and she had long golden hair that framed her heart-shaped face. But her eyes, like her fathers, were hazel that on some days didn't know if they were a shade of yellow or of green. She was a kind and naive young girl, only ever surrounded by those who were also upper class. She was oblivious and did not know the truth of what the world was. Anything she had ever learned from outside her small circle was from old books she had dug up from her Father's library. In fact, now on this hot summer day, Celine was in the carriage with her father Andre on their way to meet Officer Gaston, the man that Celine was set to marry. Her mind had been consumed by her most recent find, a novel about a man who lived his life on the run after breaking his parole.

"Your mind is wondering, my dear." Celine's eyes snapped from the window of the carriage and back to her father. She smiled, feeling slightly embarrassed for her daydreaming.

"My apologies, father." She said. "I was imagining I was somewhere away from this heat."

"Oh?" He father dropped the news paper he had been reading from his face and looked forward now interested and slightly amused. "And what is this place you dream of?"

Celine smiled. "I was imagining mountains."

Her father gave her a strange look. "You were thinking of mountains to keep your mind from the heat?"

"Yes!" She exclaimed excitedly as she turned to reach for her bag. She pulled out the dusty old book. She eagerly opened to a page she had saved by folding a crease. She began to read aloud: "As I continued to climb, I was welcomed by the rush of cold winds that struck my skin like a million knives. The snow was up to my knees and I could hardly move my legs another step. It finally entered my mind that perhaps I should give up; I almost would have if I hadn't heard the officers screaming my name not too far behind me. Hearing them gave me the push I needed to keep going. I knew I couldn't give up, not now."

Suddenly the novel was snatched away from her hands. Her father now held the book tightly in his. She felt a wave of embarrassment run through her again but this time she did not know why. She looked down away from his eyes. She knew she had done something wrong again. It seemed to her that she was always doing something to upset her father like this.

"You don't need to be reading this." He told her as he stuffed the book into his work bag. His eyes were wide and full of panic. "I should have had one of the servants clean out that library as soon as the new laws were put in place. If anyone were to catch you with literature like this they'd haul you away."

Celine continued to look down at her hands. She began to run her fingers through the ends of her long hair, a nervous habit she had developed.

Her father sighed. "I know you don't understand, Celine, but anything that glamorizing or sympathizes with law breakers is dangerous. The Lord would not want us reading anything that could tempt us to displease him. That is why the government makes these laws. They are only trying to protect us."

Celine nodded and looked up and back out of the window. They were still on the long single dirt path just outside of the city. She felt tears threatening to fill her eyes. So badly she wanted to understand why things such as this were banned but she dared not to ask for fear of her father thinking she was questioning God. Her thoughts began to eat at her. At that moment she could have sworn the temperature had gone up a couple hundred degrees. They both sat there in silence until the tension between them became unbearable for Celine.

"So this Gaston...what is he like?" She choked out, dying to take her mind off of what had happened.

He father smiled, relieved to speak of something else.

"Well, he is a very reliable and well spoken young man. He comes from a wealthy and respected family and he is also one of the new young officers that Javert has trained himself."

"Do I know this Javert?" She asked, now lost.

He father paused; sometimes he even forgot how much of the real world was kept from a young lady.

"My apologies, my dear." He said. "He is the captain of all of the officers of Paris. He takes his job very seriously and keeps everyone in line. He is the youngest man to ever be in his position. That is because he is great at what he does and anyone who has been trained by him is also great. That is why Gaston is a perfect man for you."

Celine nodded but not in any form of understanding or agreement. She simply nodded because it was the easy thing to do. Ten minutes passed and the two sat in silence as Andre returned his attention to his paper and Celine's to the window. The carriage had just entered the city of Paris and the driver announced that they were close to their destination. Celine watched and daydreamed as she looked at the passing faces and tall buildings. She leaned her head against the glass and closed her eyes. She began to think of the words poem she had written that she had lately been singing in a melody that she had been messing around with on the piano.

She closed her eyes  
In the night, the stormy night  
Away she'd fly.

Just as her thoughts began to take her away there was a sudden jolt of the carriage that snapped her back into reality. Andre reached over and placed his hand down on Celine's leg, trying his best to hold her in place as the carriage now began to shake back and forth. Celine's hands gripped the plush seat underneath her and looked outside the window in panic. Outside dozens of people in rags covered in dirt crowded the carriage. Their hands hit the windows and left smudges of their hand prints as they screamed and yelled.

"What's going on?" Celine panicked.

Andre did not respond to his daughter. He stood shakily to his feet and climbed up through the small opening on top of the carriage. He saw the driver holding onto the reins of the horses tightly as they kicked and struggled to push through the crowd. Around them, other carriages filled with lawyers, politicians, officers, judges and many other wealthy men and women also on their way to the ceremony. All carriages on the road were stopped and there was nowhere to turn.

"What should we do your honor?" The driver called out to Andre, the hot sun causing the reins to slowly slip from his hands.

Andre looked below him. Dirt covered faces stared back at him. What teeth they had left were dark and their hair was frazzled and stuck to their sweaty faces. Angrily they shouted: "Look down!"

"Look Down!"

They pushed.

"Look Down!"

With each shout their fists hit and shook the carriage. Andre knew the people would not be happy this day. Another one of their own-a young man-had been arrested and sentenced to death. If he had only known it would turn to this he would have never brought Celine.

"The officers will be here to break this up any second." Andre shouted to the driver over the roar of the crowd. "Just hold on tight, my boy, while I check on my daughter."

Andre stepped back down back into the carriage, he turned to grab his daughter and take her to the roof with him but...she was gone.

"Celine?" He gasped out. His eyes searched all around and he quickly noticed a busted window beside him. Along the glass there was blood and when he looked closer he found a piece of fine cloth that was torn from his daughter's dress.

Celine sat in the seat of the carriage with her head down and hands pressed against her ears to block out the shouts and screams. She had never known violence and anger like this. Suddenly there was the sound of a crash and glass shattered along the floor. Celine looked up to see hands reach for her. Before she could react the reaching hands grabbed her and lifted her up. Celine was young and small and they lifted and pulled her out through the window with ease. Celine struggled but it was not enough. She felt something scratch and tear the back of her leg as she went through the window. She screamed out but she knew no one who would help her could hear. She fell to the dirt covered ground and she felt fist hit her back.

"She is with Judge Andre!" She heard a man yell to those around her. With that she it felt as if a million knives struck her. This occurred for several seconds before sounds of gun shots echoed in the distance. Suddenly the beating stopped and she quickly got to her feet and ran as fast as she could. She quickly glanced toward the gunshots and saw men in fine blue suits on tall horses pushing through the crowd. She did not know where she was going-she had never been alone in the city before-but she knew she had to get away from the angry crowd. She pushed through as the people around her stood their ground. She did not make it far until her leg began to smart and she felt liquid trickle down her leg. The sensation made her stop and lean against the wheel of a stopped carriage nearby.

"Please, everyone! There is no need for more violence!" Celine looked up to see a man, maybe only a couple years older than her on top of the carriage she was up against. His hair was auburn and his face covered in light freckles. Unlike those around her, he was clean and dressed in a fine suit. Celine watched as he tried to calm the crowd.

"They will not listen to you this way! Please go before someone gets killed!" He pleaded.

For a moment there was silence and all looked to the man on the carriage. To the poor and misunderstood, there was something unworldly about a rich young man standing up for them. They watched in awe and confusion as he continued to urge them away from the chaos. Officers even stopped and watched, unsure of what was to come of this. For a split second it had seemed that this one man had ended the fight for the time being but that was all destroyed when the sound of a single gunshot rang off in the distance.

More screams sounded and a look of horror washed over the young man's face. Celine however, could not see exactly what had happened through the crowd.

"The officers just shot an innocent woman!" She heard a man yell in the distance.

Celine looked back up at the young man; he raised his hand to the officers, now only a few feet away from him and he cried. "Look down officers! Can't you see the fear in their eyes?"

He stood tall but it was obvious he was lost. His fists were clenched as officers made their way further into the crowd, still firing off their guns. Suddenly, he was pulled back into his carriage by a much older man with wrinkles across his face and thinning gray hair. Celine watched silently through the window as she caught her breath.

"Have you lost your mind, boy?" The old man scolded.

"Father..." The young man began but was cut off.

"I don't want to hear it, Marius. You've embarrassed me again with your nonsense of trying to protect these sinful animals."

Celine turned her attention away from the conversation as another ripple of pain shot through her leg. The sensation made her afraid to lift her dress and look at the cut, so she simply continued onward, unsteadily. She struggled to hold herself up as frightened men and women shoved her as they now fled. She was lost and now she was beginning to feel light headed. The gun shots were growing closer, and each time she heard them fire she swore her heart skipped a beat.

When she finally made it through the panicked crowd into a nearly empty alley she collapsed onto the dirt. Her back still ached and the sun was so hot, she was sweating through her clothes. Now only a few people ran and scattered past her down the alley and back into the shadows. Celine watched in horror as a man frantically dragged another by his forearms. The man he carried away was completely limp and left a long trail of blood. Celine broke out in a loud cry as she turned away from the sight of it. She stayed like this for a while as she sobbed, huddled herself up in a small ball, as she listened to the screams and gun fire continue. She struggled to breathe in her tight corset but now, she dared to lift the bottom of her dress. She gasped and quickly covered the wound back up when she saw how deep the gash was and how much of her flesh was exposed. It made her sweat and her stomach curl at the sight of it. She closed her eyes tightly as she grind her teeth together as she fought to push away the idea of what a doctor might have to do to her. She quickly remembered the book her Father had so frantically taken from her in the carriage. Though it was only a story, she recalled the rather gruesome chapter where the criminal on the run had assisted in an amputation of another man's leg, which had been shot with a musket by an officer. There was no medicine to help them, for no doctor would take the dying man who was simply a filthy thief. The criminal had helped to hold the victim down as the others began to take a saw to his exposed and infected leg. It was the only way they could think to save the poor man but they had failed. Between the loss of blood, the growing infection and excruciating pain, the thief could not hold on any longer. Celine suddenly felt the need to vomit at the memory of reading those words. Now, more tears streamed down her soft youthful face. She did not want to die.

"Just look at you, my dear." She heard an elderly women's voice say suddenly, nearly inches away from her face. Celine jumped from fright and struggled to get back onto her feet but quickly failed, falling down on her back, grimacing in pain.

"That gorgeous hair and those lovely clothes." She said, as she ran he thin boney fingers down Celine's arm, feeling the fabric of her dress. "They'd go for a pocket of coins in these parts."

Celine scurried backward on the ground before she explained quickly to the woman through her small hiccups from her crying: "I- I'm just waiting for my Father to find me and take me home."

The woman continued to look Celine up and down, seeming to count how many coins she could make off of her. "Oh, poor pretty girl." The old woman cackled. "No one comes back for you once you end up here."

Suddenly Celine felt two pairs of hands grab each of her arms. She looked at the two men holding her up and her heart began to race in fear.

"Let go of me!" She demanded as she tried to shake and kick herself free. Though the two men were skinny and not much bigger than she, they were still much stronger than her and she could not break their hold.

The woman walked up to her slowly. She pulled out a rusty pair of pliers from her front pocket and brought it up to the young girl's face. "Just hold still."

Celine's eyes widened in horror as she realized the pliers were coming towards her mouth. As loud as she could she quickly screamed out for help but it was still too noisy for anyone to hear in the town square, even with the officers clearing out the mob. She closed her mouth tightly, even rolling her lips inward. It wasn't long until one of the men grabbed at her jaw and forced her mouth to open. Shakily, the old woman gripped one of Celine's back teeth with the claws of the piece of metal. Celine screamed but she knew it would do her no use. No one could hear her.

Just as the woman began to pull, she was stopped by a bullet hitting her in the shoulder. She quickly backed away and hissed at the pain as she covered the wound with her hand. The two thin men dropped Celine immediately and took off at the sight. Celine fell to the ground again and breathed deeply before looking over to see a man in uniform pointing a gun at the old woman. She looked back to see the woman now on her knees begging the officer to spare her.

"Captain please." She explained as tears began to fill her sunken in, blood shot eyes. "We're only trying to survive."

An instinctual wave of hatred washed over Celine as she waited for this woman to be hauled away for attempting to hurt her. Everything she had heard about the world and these people who infected it had seemed to all be true. They were scum, they were trash and they had tried to take from her as she cried and bled on the dirt. Celine's wet, green eyes narrowed on this woman as she seethed.

"Those men were my sons." The old woman shamefully admitted to the officer. "They have children-my grandchildren….they will die if we don't get the money to get them food and clothing for the coming winter."

Celine's eyes now moved to look at the ground as she felt that sudden wave of anger slowly fade away.

"I'm so sorry…" Celine's eyes snapped back up as she heard the woman choke out those words, a sob obviously threatening to escape her throat as she spoke. She was looking at Celine now and suddenly, she realized that the woman was no longer pleading the Officer but instead, she was apologizing for what she had done…and maybe even it seemed, for what she was.

Celine felt her heart sink with sadness and even a bit of guilt as she looked at the woman standing there in nothing but dirty rags that were far too large for her malnourished body. Celine recognized this feeling but it had only ever presented itself a handful of times in her life. It was compassion. She felt it pull and tug at her as she watched this woman now allow tears to fall down her face. To her shock, Celine quickly realized the Officer did not share the heavy emotions that now plagued her heart. The sound of the gun cocking echoed through Celine's ears and suddenly everything seemed to happen in slow motion. With every ounce of strength she had left she stood and ran to tackle the officer before he could pull the trigger. Celine and the man in blue uniform fell beside each other on the hard ground. While the officer tried to grasp what had just happened, the old woman had slipped away in the dark corners of the streets. Celine looked over to see the man, quickly getting back up on his feet. He took a few steps forward, still holding his gun, as he looked for the woman but she was long gone.

"You little snake." He growled before turning back to Celine, who still lay on the ground. Before witnessing what had just occurred, Celine would have felt safe in the presence of an officer but now she cowered back in fear, sliding her body away from the towering man until her back hit the rough brick of a building.

"Please Monsieur..." She gasped out before feeling his firm grasp on her upper arms, lifting her up to her feet, sending a shooting pain back into her leg that she had since almost forgotten about.

Celine winced and kept her eyes away from the menacing man's face as she looked down at her feet. She could feel her eyes almost roll into the back of her head once she noticed all of the blood that had covered her feet. Her body grew limp and now there wasn't enough air filling her lungs.

"You will address me as Captain Javert." He stated firmly. "Now tell me what is your name and what business do you have assaulting an officer."

With this demand he gave the young girl a shake. Finally her head snapped up and her eyes met his cold blue ones. Her heart raced and she could feel body grow weak. She gave in and let herself fall as she lost conciseness. Unsteadily, Javert caught the girl before she hit the ground. At first he was unsure of what had happened, until he noticed the huge gash that ran up her leg. It was unlike Javert to not leave the suffering girl there to die on the streets, especially one who had meddled in an officer's work, but as he scanned her over he couldn't help but notice her fine clothes and groomed hair, even through all the sweat and dirt that now covered her. He could not leave someone of her statues, even though he was tempted to.


End file.
